לולב ואתרוג א

The principle is that every person must extract himself from the power of ha-m'damaeh — the imaginative faculty — which is the force of animalistic nature, which encompasses all of the desires. He must rise up to the intellect. See there. And thereafter, even as one breaks the imaginative faculty, when one returns to ascend from level to level, the imaginative faculty and all its confusions spread out again, and one must again subdue them. Subduing them is accomplished through the revelation of the greatness of the Creator — that is, through tzedakah (charity). See there. And this is the inner meaning of the verse, Hodu la-Shem kir'u vi'shmo — "Give thanks to the Lord, call upon His name" — which corresponds to ascending from the world of Action (Asiyah) to the world of Formation (Yetzirah). Therefore one mentions the greatness of the Creator in order to subdue them. See there.

Section Tes-Zayin [טז] And this is what is adjacent in the Haggadah — "and afterward they shall go out with great wealth" and [then]: "and it is that which has stood for our fathers and for us, etc." — for the essential sustaining of our existence in this bitter exile is through the promise that He promised Avraham Avinu: "and also the nation that they shall serve — I shall judge; and afterward they shall go out with great wealth." And our Sages of blessed memory interpreted: "and also" — to include the subjugation by the kingdoms — for the essential subjugation was through their having taken and robbed the abundance of wealth to themselves, and through this they rule over us. But Hashem, blessed be He, already in advance promised us through our Forefathers: "and afterward they shall go out with great wealth." And from that promise, some of the abundance flows to us even now — so that we have sustenance in this bitter exile until the redemption — for the promise was that Israel must be in exile as strangers, as if all the abundance and wealth were theirs [the nations']. But all of it is for the good — so that we recognize our poverty and lowliness and return to Him — and through this the little abundance we have is worth more than all their wealth, as stated. And through this various tzaddikim and worthy people merit even in exile great wealth — and through this we have sustenance in exile to stand against the nations and against all those who oppose the truth. For not just one has stood against us to destroy us — but in every generation they stand against us to destroy us, and the Holy One, blessed be He, saves us from their hand through our holy Elders who sustain us even in this exile and draw for us the holy abundance in a wondrous and awesome manner — until we merit complete redemption speedily in our days, Amen.

This is the aspect of Chanukah — it is the first illumination of the entire year (as is brought in the holy books), and it alludes to the beginning of a person's initiation (chinuch) into Divine service. This is the meaning of the word Chanukah: that a person becomes initiated (mitchanaych) in the service of the Blessed Name. And one cannot begin the service of the Blessed Name except by first waging war to break the imaginative faculty, as described above. This is the aspect of the war against the wicked idol-worshippers that preceded Chanukah — the evil idolatrous empire that sought to cause Israel to forget the Torah of God and transgress the statutes of His will. This corresponds to the imaginative faculty, the animalistic power, which spreads over a person and seeks to prevent and divert him from the Torah of God, Heaven forbid, as it is written (Daniel 8): V'ha-tzafir ha-sa'ir — "And the hairy goat…" etc. And thereafter, when one merits to prevail over the aforementioned wicked empire and to break the imaginative faculty, one then begins to kindle the Chanukah lamp — that is, one merits to ascend to the intellect, which is the aspect of a burning lamp, as is explained in the teaching beginning Pasach Rabbi Shimon (§60). And one adds more each day, for it is forbidden to remain on a single level — rather, one must add in holiness each day, and one's intellect must increase and grow each day. This is why we add one more candle each time upon the previous one, and the first candle remains present through all the days — for when one kindles two candles on the second night, they correspond to the first and second nights; and so too on the third night; so it emerges that the first night's candle goes along with all the candles of all the nights. This corresponds to what Rabbainu wrote (§62) — that all beginnings are difficult, because one is going from one extreme to another; and thereafter, as one progresses and becomes more holy, all the service of all the days draws its strength from the beginning, and the power of the beginning accompanies all the days. This is the aspect of ta'anis, the aspect of the Divine Name Havayah spelled in reverse (b'achorayim), where the first letter accompanies all the letters — just as one writes: Yud-Yud, Yud-Kay, etc. This is the aspect of the Chanukah lights: at first one kindles one, then aleph-beis (one and two), then aleph-beis-gimel — so the first light goes with all the days, because all the days draw their strength from the beginning of the initiation of service, which was when one first began to rise to the intellect — that is the first candle of Chanukah. And thereafter, as one's intellect continues to increase each day, all the days draw their power from the beginning, for all beginnings are difficult, as above. And this is why we say Hallel on Chanukah — it is the aspect of praising the Blessed Name, in order to reveal the greatness of the Creator, in order to subdue the imaginative faculty that spreads anew each time one seeks to ascend from level to level, as above. This is the aspect of the tzedakah — the practice of giving Chanukah money (ma'os Chanukah) generously to the poor — in order to break the imaginative faculty at each level through the revelation of colors, which is the aspect of the greatness of the Creator that is revealed through tzedakah, as above. And this is the aspect of the play (s'chok) that even the early righteous ones were accustomed to engage in during Chanukah — permissible forms of play. (However, in our many sins, people today come to transgression by playing forbidden games.) This corresponds to the descent that is the ultimate purpose of ascent — for on Chanukah one ascends from level to level in the manner of mosif v'holeych — continuously adding — as above.